Premise: Nick Cassidy, an ex-cop, has been accused of stealing a multimillion diamond from the most powerful man in the country. He has been sentenced to 25 years in prison as a result despite the fact that insists his innocent – no one seems to believe him. While released briefly to attend his father’s funeral, Nick escapes custody and goes on the run. Now, days later we find Nick on the ledge of the Roosevelt a 40-story building, threatening to jump. Only things aren’t adding up and we find out there’s much more to Nick than the suicidal jumper he claims to be.

My Review: First, let me list the bad: 1) This movie reminded me of a lot of other movies put together. It felt like a mix between “Phone Booth” and “Oceans 11”. 2) A lot, if not most of the situations were highly impossible. Impossible in the ways that even if, and it’s a big IF, one of those things could actually happen, there’s no way in our society today the latter would be able to happen. (An explosion in NYC not noticed? In what world?) 3) There was a lot of “filler” in the middle of the movie, almost like the filmmakers were grasping at straws to make the movie fit into the 102 minute film.

Now the good: I like it when movies are creative – when something unexpected happens amongst the expected. Sure, okay, maybe the plot and subplots are a little familiar and slightly familiar, but if it’s executed in a creative, smart, funny way, then I think it’s a win overall. And that’s what Man On A Ledge did. The tricks and twists kept me entertained and saved this movie from being a letdown.

I also like the fact that Hollywood didn’t drag some meaningless romantic story line into the plot and screw it all up. (Seriously, doesn’t it seem like every movie whether it fits to the character or not has a romantic plot line? But I digress…) Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks had good chemistry, and it would have been real EASY to include a romance type situation in there but instead they stuck to the story instead putting friendship, trust, and family at stake. And those things are much more interesting with a story like this.

Overall, though some situations were incredibly highly implausible, the acting was great, the supporting cast really added depth, humor, lightness, and the story was engaging and the movie was smart and clever.